Mid-week Inspiration,

Today is the last of a series of messages on gratitude inspired by Bahni Helsdon, an old friend and classmate, now residing in Vancouver:

Just yesterday I received news that a colleague of mine and spiritual mentor to millions made his transition.  Dr Tom Johnson, past president of Religious Science International and a recognized writer of  personal empowerment and spiritual books made his transition.

The significance of this event to each of us is not in his past achievements, and I could list many, but rather the atmosphere of surrender he chose in making his transition.

Surrender is one of the most important keys to attaining a true sense of gratitude.  We must be willing to release our challenges to a higher power.  This is the point where gratitude becomes a spiritual experience rather than just a humanistic sense of acquisitiveness.  We must recognize that we are embraced in a power greater than we are otherwise we have nothing to surrender to.  We are merely giving up or giving away our power; we become the down trodden.

There is nothing disempowering to true surrender.  In fact every great and accomplished person through history has been able and willing to surrender to the God of their believing.   

One of the greatest lines in my repertoire of inspirational quotes states: “When you find you have fallen down get up, dust yourself  off and carry on.”   This is the essence of  true surrender; it is an acknowledgement of our human limitations and a willingness to continue growing and learning; to accept help.  A willingness to learn, to be teachable is paramount to feeling gratitude. It has been said that the day we stop learning is the day we start dying. 

I have been blessed to have some people cross my path leaving me with the impression that they are still very much living long after dying.  Those people have lived lives of deep gratitude, realizing that every moment is the greatest gift of their existence.  On the other extreme, some I have known died long ago and yet continue to struggle to keep breathing.  They continue living a shell of a life, empty, desperate and struggling, because they are terrified of  losing their physical life.  They usually die comparatively young despite their fear of death and have experienced very little of the richness of true gratitude.

I leave you with this final saying:

True gratitude comes with true surrender,
Dance as if nobody is watching,
Sing as if nobody is listening and
Laugh as if nobody cares.
Yesterday is forever gone and today really is the beginning of the life you would choose.  We each live according to the gifts of our passing. 

I thank you for accepting this ‘Light  Mail’ as my gift to you.

In Love and Light,